The White Reindeer: Folklore from Finland!

The White Reindeer (1952)

The directorial debut of Finnish cinematographer Erik Blomberg, and co-written by Blomberg and lead actress Mirjami Kuosmanen, The White Reindeer is one of the most internationally renowned Finnish films, receiving awards at Cannes as well as winning the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Yet, for all its success, The White Reindeer is one of world cinema’s under-seen masterpieces. A dark fairy-tale set amongst the starkly beautiful landscape of Finnish Lapland, Blomberg combines a cinematography style reminiscent of documentary with daring avant-garde experimentation to produce a dreamy art-house horror film without compare. TRAILER

Synopsis:

A newly-married young woman, Pirita (Mirjami Kuosmanen), becomes frustrated and lonely as her husband, a reindeer herder, spends much of his time away from home in devotion to his work. Desperate for affection, she visits a shaman who offers a potion that will make her an irresistible object of desire, but there is a terrible cost. Pirita becomes a bloodthirsty shapeshifter who lures men from the village out into the barren wilderness where she consumes them.

With its portrayals of gender inequality, societal pressures and sexual anxiety (represented through animal transformation, with echoes of Jacques Tourneur’s Cat People…), The White Reindeer is a timeless classic that deserves to be rediscovered and recognised as an important film in the folk-horror genres.

"It is framed like a fairy tale; although, it seems more like one of those older, darker tales consigned to the depths of folk memory than anything that could be found in a children’s storybook. The White Reindeer was filmed in the northernmost part of Finland where vast expanses of snow stretch endlessly towards the horizon and clouds cast ominous shadows over the blinding white landscape as they race across the sky. Blomberg's cinematography evokes sensations of isolation and loneliness. Tiny settlements are almost swallowed whole by the immensity of the natural landscape, while great bonfires built to provide some semblance of warmth appear like little more than solitary candles flickering in the vast darkness of the Finnish winter. There is a sense throughout the film that nature exists as the dominant force in this region and that the humans who attempt to eke out a fragile civilisation in this hostile landscape are only temporary trespassers in a wild and ancient place."- Diabolique Magazine